Big Ten Football predictions, Week 5: Can Minnesota stay hot vs. Purdue?

It’s officially conference season for Big Ten football, with all 14 teams playing each other in conference matchups. It’s the first time this season that every game on the league’s schedule will be 100 percent Big Ten vs. Big Ten.

Entering the conference schedule are four undefeated teams: No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Michigan, No. 11 Penn State, and No. 21 Minnesota. Of those, all but Michigan will be playing at home, giving them a slight edge in what should be a competitive slate of games.

Let’s take a look at five bold predictions for this week’s slate of games in the Big Ten.

5. Penn State will cover huge spread vs. Northwestern

Penn State has decided to start selling beer at its home football games, with the first sales happening this week against Northwestern. It’s probably a good thing this is the first week for beer sales at Penn State because fans may need a little liquid libation to keep things interesting in what should be a huge blow-out win for the Nittany Lions.

The line is set at 25.5 for this game and Penn State should exceed that benchmark fairly easily in front of their home crowd. Excluding their season opener at Purdue, the Nittany Lions have not allowed more than 14 points in a game this season and have averaged 40 points per game during this three-game stretch.

When you combine that with Northwestern being one of the worst teams in the conference, you can begin to see why Penn State should be able to win and win big this week. Among teams in the Big Ten, Northwestern is tied for the worst overall record, scored the second-fewest points, and given up the third-most points on defense.